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A2 PSYCHOLOGYUnit 3

Topics in PsychologyEATING BEHAVIOUR

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW…

EATING BEHAVIOUR:

Attitudes to Eating behaviour1. Factors influencing attitudes to food and eating- Cultural influences- Mood- Health concerns

2. Explanations for the success and failure of dieting

Biological explanations of eating behaviour1. Neural mechanisms - Controlling eating behaviour

2. Evolutionary explanations of food preference

Eating disorders1. Anorexia Nervosa- Psychological explanations- Biological explanations

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For Unit 3 you need to have excellent evaluative skills. In order to gain top A02/A03 marks you need to be evaluating using

Issues, Debates and Approaches (IDA)

• Issues include bias (culture- or gender-based), ethics (for human and non-human animal participants), and methodology.• Debates include nature/nurture, free will and determinism, and reductionism.• Approaches include cognitive, biological/physiological, behavioural/learning, and psychodynamic.

The pneumonic below can help you to remember key issues and debates:

G – Gender biasR – Reductionism E – Ethical issuesN – Nature vs nurtureA – ApplicationD – Determinism vs free willE – Ethnocentrism

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Topic 1 – Attitudes to Eating Behaviour

Lesson 1: Introduction to attitudes to food and eating behaviour

Attitudes can be measured using a Likert Scale.

Rate the following 10 foods from 1 to 51= do not like at all5= like very much

Food Type Attitude (1-5)AppleChipsSalad

Chocolate cakeWholemeal bread

Salmon and potatoesFry Up

Boiled eggsPizza

Big Mac

Compare your results with the rest of the group.Which foods were most liked and disliked? Why?

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What is an attitude?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

ABC MODEL

A

B

C

How do attitudes develop?

1.

2.

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Factors which influence attitudes to food

Lesson 2: Mood as a factor which influences attitudes to food/eating behaviour

Mood – emotional state which

affects eating practices

Give examples of different moods and how it affects your eating behaviour:

What conclusions can we draw?

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POSITIVE MOOD NEGATIVE MOOD

Key study

Garg et al, 2007Aims

Procedures

Findings

Conclusions

Evaluation

Stress and eating - Do people eat more or less when feeling stressed?

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Hypophagia – Excessive Under-Eating Hyperphagia – Excessive Over-eating

What can we conclude from the above research?

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Evaluate mood and eating behaviour research below:

G

R

E

N

A

D

E

Outline what research has shown regarding mood and eating behaviour (4 marks)

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Lesson 3: Cultural influences on attitudes to food and eating behaviour

How does diet differ in countries around the world?

UK -

Japan -

India -

Mexico -

What about different religions?

Judaism -

Christianity -

Islam -

How do the McDonald’s adverts compare across different countries?

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Research: Cultural Influences

Lawrence et al (2007)

Stead et al (2004)

Stefansson (1960)

Evaluate culture and eating behaviour research below:

G

R

E

N

A

D

E

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Lesson 4: Health concerns as a factor which effects attitudes to food and eating behaviour

The desire to eat nutritious food and avoid unhealthy diets is a motivation for eating behaviour.

Describe the perfect healthy diet:

Factors that affect health-based eating behaviour…

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Education

Accessibility

Income

Source

Social and Cultural Influences

What does the research say?

Topic Research

Sensory Qualities

Education

Health

Source

Income

Nutrition

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What can we conclude from the above research? Are health concerns an influential factor?

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Evaluation

ISSUES -

DEBATES -

APPROACHES -

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A01:

Explanation 1 –

Explanation 2 –

Explanation 3-

A02: Research support:

A03: Evaluation of researchISSUE:

DEBATE:

APPROACH:

Keywords:

Discuss the role of one or more factors that influence attitudes to food (24m)

“Attitudes to food and eating behaviour are influenced by a range of factors such as culture, mood and health concerns.”

Discuss research into factors influencing attitudes to food and/or eating behaviour. (8 marks + 16 marks)………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Topic 2 – The success and failure of dieting

What is dieting?

What do we mean by restrained and non-restrained eaters? Who would you expect to eat more? Explain your answer. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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Up to 87% of women

diet at some point in

their lives.

Why do people diet?

Who would eat more in a study, dieters (restrained eaters) or non-dieters (unrestrained eaters)? Herman and Mack (1975) actually found that restrained eaters eat more!

Procedure:Which research design was used?

There were three were three conditions, what were they?

What were p’s asked to do?

All p’s were then given a questionnaire to establish whether or not they were on a diet.Results:Low restraint p’s:

High restraint p’s:

Across all p’s: they also found that the higher the p’s scored on the questionnaire the more ice cream they ate after two milkshakes (positive correlation)Conclusion:

Results support the boundary model theory because:

Evaluation: The questionnaire was administered post hoc so:

A positive correlation was found between level of restraint and amount of ice cream eaten – shows that dieters will eat more if pushed over an already established ‘cognitive limit’

Data is correlational so:

The study could be considered ethical because:

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The boundary model – resulting in the ‘what the hell effect’

When we go on a diet the body’s physiological processes (homeostasis) have to compete with cognitive limits (personal goals, calorie limits) we set ourselves.

Evaluation of the boundary model

Strengths Weaknesses

Other reasons diets can be problematic

Become fixated with food: we may eat more because we have suppressed thoughts about food – called the ‘rebound effect’

Food has the ability to raise our mood: linked to the ‘what the hell’ effect of restrained eaters & low self-esteem

Weight loss may slow: Our BMR slows down if less calories are consumed, so we burn less calories and weight loss is difficult

Weight loss can be successful if the following things are done

1.

2.

3.

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Describe the interaction between cognitive a physiological processes and how they influence dieting:

A further explanation for the success and failure of dieting – The role of detail (Redden, 2008)

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Outline:

Supporting Evidence:

Evaluation of research and explanation:

The role of neural mechanisms involved in controlling eating and satiation

Learning objectives:

To be able to describe the role of neural mechanisms involved in eating and satiation To describe and evaluate research into the mechanisms of feeding and satiation

What is homeostasis?

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The digestive tract (pg. 153)

Complete the boxes to show what happens during the digestion process at each of these key stages:

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STOMACH

OESOPHAGUS

SMALL INTESTINE

More enzymes break down the food and then the small molecules are absorbed into the blood stream. The small intestine has villi (finger like projections) which increase the surface area for absorption.

LIVER

The liver makes bile which is stored in the gall

bladder. Bile neutralises the acid from the

stomach as it is an alkali

PANCREAS

Makes enzymes which are released into the small intestine to carry on breaking down food.

MOUTH

What are adipose cells?

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Insulin and glucagon (pg. 153)

Insulin Glucagon

What is diabetes?

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What is the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?

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Explain the role of insulin plays in diabetes

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Neural mechanisms and eating behaviour (pgs. 153 - 154)

What evidence is there that the hypothalamus plays a role in the control of eating behaviour?

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Produce a diagram to show how hunger is controlled by dual centres in the hypothalamus

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Signals for starting a meal (pg. 154 – 155)

In _____________ countries we normally have set meal times, and the ___________ system will prepare

itself by releasing __________ and _________ just before this set time (Pinel, 2007). _________________

would suggest this represents a ____________ response because we which we anticipate the presence of

food due to the fact we associate food with certain times of the day

The __________ and _______ of food also prepare the digestive system, and can cause a _________ to

eat; despite not actually being hungry.

The hormone __________ is released by the __________. The amount of __________ released depends on

how ________ our ___________ is. When injected _________ can cause a _________ to eat more and as

such gain weight. The role of ________ can also be seen when looking at people who have had a

___________ _______ fitted. This is because, the amount of _________ released by the stomach

_____________after a person has had a ____________ ________ fitted.

Cummings et al. (2004) – A study into the changes in participants (p's) blood ghrelin levels between meals:How many p's were used?

What gender were they?

P's ate lunch, and their ghrelin levels were monitored. How often was blood taken?

How was the blood sample taken?

Blood was taken until p's asked for their evening meal. How frequently did P's have to assess their hunger?

What did Cummings et al (2004) find?

Therefore, ghrelin levels directly reflect the emptiness of the stomach and can be linked to personal hunger feelings.

Evaluation:List the extraneous variables (EV's) that were eliminated:

Why is it important to control/eliminate EV's?

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Why does the study lack population validity?

Data was correlational, what is the problem with this?

Short-term factors which may stop us eating (pg. 156)

Food in the stomach:

Digestion – from stomach to duodenum:

Fall in ghrelin levels:

Blood glucose levels:

Long term factors controlling how much we eat – body weight (pg. 156 – 157)

Body weight is determined by both muscle mass and body fat Fat is stored in adipocyte cells, and these cells make up fatty tissue. The number of adipocytes a

person has are determined by diet and fixed after the first few years of life We control how much we eat so we can maintain a relatively constant weight In order to do this the mechanisms that control feeding need to know how much fat we are storing,

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so these mechanisms receive a signal about our fat reserves (the main factor which determines our weight)

Signals indicating body weight (pg. 157)

Evidence of this signal comes from studies of genetically obese mice.

What are 'ob' mice?

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What is leptin?

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Why do 'ob' mice eat continuously? What can be done to treat them?

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Why can't the same treatment be used for humans?

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Evaluation of the biological explanations of eating behaviours (pg. 157 – 158)

Understanding the complex biological systems regulating human eating behaviour can help us understand not only normal regulations of eating but can also give an insight into the biological influences on eating disorders such as AN

This approach is based solely on biological factors therefore,

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Most research within this area has been conducted on non-human animals; therefore,

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Discuss neural mechanisms involved in the control of eating behaviour. (8 marks + 16 marks)

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Evolutionary explanations of food preference

Learning objectives:

To be able to describe evolutionary explanations for food preferences – including the influence of taste and smell

To be able to evaluate research into evolutionary explanations of food preference

Taste and smell (pg. 159)

Gustation (the psychological term referring to our sense of taste) depends on receptors on the tongue.

Explain how taste receptors are activated:

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Taste receptors are specialised cells which identify five key taste qualities. Each of these can be linked to a certain aspect of our diets:

Taste receptor Aspect of diet receptor is linked to

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How does Olfaction (our sense of smell) influence our food preferences?

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Evolutionary origins of the human diet

The human evolutionary line split from the apes around 6 million year ago. So the easiest way to investigate our evolutionary past is by comparing our diets to our nearest relatives – the great apes and monkeys.

Using pg. 160 answer the following questions:

1. Are humans biologically suited to eat meat? Explain your answer.…..........................................................................................................................................................................

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2. ‘Becoming omnivores enabled humans to evolve in many ways’. Provide evidence to support this statement.

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3. When humans became omnivores, they began to live in hunter-gatherer societies. This had implications for the nature of our society. Explain how gender roles could be said to have an evolutionary basis.

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Becoming omnivores had the above evolutionary advantages, but also had the disadvantage of exposing humans to a number of toxins and bacteria present in raw meat.

In order to cope with these risks humans developed a number of methods:

Evolved coping method Explanation & supporting research

Cooking

The use of spices – passed on via cultural transmission

Taste receptors & facial expressions

Food neophobia

Taste aversion learning

Further evidence that food preferences and the human diet have evolutionary advantages comes from the diets of _______________ women. Speak to any ______________ women or mother and they will most likely provide you with stories of _______________ sickness, cravings, and being completely put of food they previously loved. This would; however, be anecdotal evidence. In order to discuss this in your essays you will need to provide empirical evidence.

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Use pg. 162 to find research which supports the above anecdotal evidence:

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Evaluation of the Evolutionary explanation for food preferences

Strengths Weaknesses

A – approach

Evolutionary approach

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I – issue

Reductionism

D - debate

Nature V Nurture

Eating disorders (pgs. 177 – 185)

Learning objectives:

To be able to define the term ‘eating disorder’ To be able to list the clinical characteristics of Anorexia Nervosa (AN)

What are ‘eating disorders’?

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Most pieces of research on eating disorders considered oestrocentric, why?

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How could this problem be addressed?

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There are three types of eating disorders:

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Anorexia Nervosa (AN) Bulimia nervosa (BN) Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS)

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) – how is it diagnosed?

AN can be divided into two types: restricting AN and binge/purge AN

Restricting AN – involves a refusal to eat (starving themselves) Binge/purge AN – involves binge eating and then attempting to purge (remove the food from the

body)

What do sufferers do to purge?

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In order to diagnose a person as suffering from an eating disorder a doctor will have look out for certain

symptoms/behaviours.

List the symptoms of AN below:

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Case studies – read the studies and decide whether they are suffering from AN, if so what type? Or whether you think they do not meet the criteria for AN. Provide evidence for your decision in the table below:

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Case 1 - Jane is 17; she goes to the local supermarket and buys crisps, biscuits, and cakes most evenings. She hides them in her room – her family do not know she does this. After eating most of her purchases Jane goes out running and will do 200 sit ups and 200 press ups. Jane used to

be a healthy 10 stone – she is now eight stone

Case 2 - Alice is 15, she lies to her mum and tells her she has breakfast at school, and lunch at her best friends house. In fact, Alice eats neither. Her

periods started when she was 13, but for the past few moths she has not had a period. Alice used to be a size 12, she is now a size eight – but still thinks she

is fat.

Case 3 - Andrew is 16, he worries that he is fat, because he is bigger than most of his friends. Andrew is restricting

what he eats. He used to need a size L in t-shirts and jumpers. He has lost a 1 ½ stone, so he is

now a size S. He goes to the gym 4 times a week.

Case 1 – Jane Case 2 – Alice Case 3 - Andrew

Psychological Explanations for Anorexia Nervosa (AN)

Sociocultural Explanation:

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Case 1 - Jane is 17; she goes to the local supermarket and buys crisps, biscuits, and cakes most evenings. She hides them in her room – her family do not know she does this. After eating most of her purchases Jane goes out running and will do 200 sit ups and 200 press ups. Jane used to

be a healthy 10 stone – she is now eight stone

Case 2 - Alice is 15, she lies to her mum and tells her she has breakfast at school, and lunch at her best friends house. In fact, Alice eats neither. Her

periods started when she was 13, but for the past few moths she has not had a period. Alice used to be a size 12, she is now a size eight – but still thinks she

is fat.

Influence of the media:

Supporting Evidence:

Cognitive Explanation:

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Faulty thinking:

Supporting Evidence:

Psychodynamic explanations for AN

The psychodynamic approach to behaviour is based on the assumptions that:

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Research carried out by Idea(s) held Explanation

Restricting eating to gain self-efficacy

Restricting eating to delay on-set on adulthood like characteristics

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Evaluation of explanation:

Restricting eating for a distraction

Evaluation of the Psychodynamic explanation of eating disorders

Treatments based on the assumptions of this approach are commonly used and have been found to be effective.

It is difficult to establish a cause and effect relationship between ……………………………………………….

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The assumptions this approach are based on cannot be tested because

…………………………………………………………........................................................................…; therefore, the

approach is unfalsifiable.

Evidence comes mainly from case studies which lack reliability because …………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Explanations of eating disorders – Biological explanationsThe Evolutionary perspective

Learning objectives:

To be able to outline and evaluate the evolutionary explanation of eating disorders

The Evolutionary approach assumes three basic things about all human behaviour:

1. All behaviour is inherited from…...………………………………, therefore; it is …………………….. and considered to be an…………………….. Response to our ……………………..

2. In order for a behaviour to continue it must be beneficial for either …………………………….. or ……………………………….

3. Any behaviour that is not beneficial will not……………………………………………….

Q: What is the EEA?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…

Q: What similarities do AN sufferers have with our hunter-gatherer ancestors?

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………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Strengths of the evolutionary explanation Weaknesses of the evolutionary explanation

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Genetics, and the role of neurotransmitters in AN

AO1 Explanation AO2 Research evidence AO2/3 for studies

Genetics

Neurotransmitters

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Discuss one psychological and one biological explanation for an eating disorder (8+16 marks)

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